Environment Curiosity as an Opportunity Erasmus Project

Project Title

Environment Curiosity as an Opportunity

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for Schools Only

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2016

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Migrants’ issues; Environment and climate change

Project Summary

The project is a natural follow-up to the YES-‘Young-European-Scientists’ Comenius project which involved 5 out of the 6 starter partners: Pieralli, Marianum, Allgäu, Giordano Bruno and Sant Quirze.Science subjects and science teachers together with English teachers played a key role in the whole project.
The European Union has defined climate change and energy sustainability as one of the five major 2020 targets.The EU also acknowledges that responsibility for action needs to be shouldered in a joint effort that also includes the individual citizen.Our project Environment Curiosity as an Opportunity-ECO-stemmed precisely from the need to promote positive individual environmental awareness as a first step towards climate adaptation and mitigation and to ensure our students gain the skills and aspirations essential for building a sustainable European future. By embracing interdisciplinary learning across the curriculum, we have enhanced their curiosity which led to change their perspectives and took individual actions. We were a Strategic Partnership involving five secondary schools from different countries that have spotted common needs related to the environmental education of our students and their passive acquiescence.
In addition, ECO project also involved an active collaboration with universities, a wide range of experts, private and public companies as well as social, cultural and political associations that deal with the environment in order to promote entrepreneurship. Besides, it provided students with the opportunity to reflect on issues in a collaborative way, online and face to face, using English which is not their mother tongue. Consequently, the experience was useful to reinforce CLIL (integrated language and content learning), teaching and learning practices (Flipped classrooms).Moreover, participants applied their scientific knowledge in lab experiments for the understanding of environmental issues and they also acquired technological and computer science skills, again with the support of external experts. All in all, ECO helped us to build a learning community ready to take actions and plan a sustainable future for Europe and mankind.
The ECO project was addressed to a total of 900 15/18 -year-old- students approximately and the topics covered were included in the school curricula especially in Science, Maths, Technology, Arts, History, ICT, Social Sciences as Geography, Economics, Law, Citizenship Education and Foreign Languages.
Based on the needs analysis conducted by the five schools, ECO aimed at working in a collaborative way to achieve the following SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely) objectives:
1.Shift the adolescents’ environmental attitudes, beliefs and behaviour towards a more positive and responsible attitude via inquiry-based learning.
2.He lp young citizens to acquire the knowledge and the 21st Century skills in a lifelong learning perspective 3.Help students to succeed in a changing world and strengthen their entrepreneurial skills: critical thinking, collaboration, creativity and communication
4. Embrace interdisciplinary across the curriculum to support a transfer of learning, especially in STEAM (Science, technology. Engineering, Arts and Maths). This provides a more relevant curriculum to the students and enables them to see the links between what they learn in school and what they will be doing in the future fostering self-confidence and entrepreneurship.
5.Update teaching methods fostering collaborative work, creating opportunities for networking with colleagues, promoting learning by doing and effective ICT implementation.
6.Shift to intercultural education and curriculum within a European dimension
7. Acquire lifelong learning skills and self-esteem.
8. Develop culturally literate European citizens open to multiculturalism and multilingualism.
9. Gain a real sense of the value of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths) and learn how to adapt in an evolving world.
10. Improve students and teachers’ collaborative skills in constructing knowledge and a European learning community.
11Improve students and teachers language skills and digital competence.
12.Implement more relevant and internationalized curriculum through effective ICT (Information and Communication)
The impact and sustainability of our project consist of an excellent cross-curricular AICLE lessons based on STEAM, documentaries to raise awareness of climate change, posters, presentations and blogs, all of them available to be used in the future. On the other hand, communicative and ICT skills in a foreign language and the use of social media and other digital tools of teachers and students were obviously improved. Finally, a better knowledge of other cultures was also achieved, ECO changed our perception of the European Union thanks to the people directly involved in the project.
We have two dissemination chanels: Ecoweb and Etwinning.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 73500 Eur

Project Coordinator

Ins.Sant Quirze del Vallès & Country: ES

Project Partners

• I.I.S. “GIORDANO BRUNO”
• Scholengemeenschap Marianum
• Sandown Bay Academy
• Liceo Statale Assunta Pieralli
• Allgäu-Gymnasium